Libraries, which inspire, inform and welcome all, are now expendable

Recent actions by the Trump administration are threatening the future of libraries in Seattle and other Washington communities.

On March 14, a White House Executive Order was issued to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the only federal agency that provides funding to libraries.

Keith Sonderling was then appointed acting director of the IMLS and, just days after being sworn in, placed all institute staff on administrative leave and issued grant termination notices to state libraries in Washington and elsewhere, effective April 1. Unfortunately, this was not a cruel April Fools’ joke, but a harsh new reality — the U.S. government is no longer investing in America’s libraries.

The Seattle Public Library operates thanks to exceptional support from Seattle voters, taxpayers and donors; the vast majority of our funding is provided by local sources. But the dismantling of the IMLS means a loss of support for grant-based work that helps us do more for our city. Over the past few years, IMLS grants have helped fund SPL efforts to support post-pandemic teen mental health, add more Wi-Fi hot spots in our collection, offer more research and information databases and digitize Seattle’s local history.

Institute funding is even more critical for Washington libraries serving rural and tribal communities; libraries in schools, hospitals and prisons; and libraries that provide specialized resources and services for readers who are blind. The Washington State Talking Book and Braille Library and the Washington Rural Heritage community digital archives are just two examples of systems that will be significantly affected by the loss of this federal funding.

And all libraries benefit from the work IMLS does to foster training and innovation. Nearly all IMLS grants include provisions that promote the dissemination of learning and best practices. Our teen mental health program, for example, has been replicated in libraries across the country. Libraries are an ecosystem that deserves our protection.

If libraries have been important in your life, you understand the gravity of these actions by the administration. Libraries provide free access to books, the internet and computers, meeting and study rooms, story times and early learning programs, and local history collections, as well as resource support for job seekers, small business entrepreneurs, older adults, immigrants and refugees, people without housing, people living with a disability and more. 

Even more fundamentally, libraries provide a place where everyone belongs, no strings attached or purchase required. Libraries are a place to explore your First Amendment rights, to read and think for yourself, and to engage in democracy. They are places to learn, grow and connect with your community and with the broader world.

While the White House might argue it is simply cutting wasteful spending by eliminating the IMLS, it does not acknowledge that the agency spends less than .003% of the federal government’s budget, costs about 75 cents per capita and provides tremendous return on investment.

In an effort to protect federal funding for Washingtonians who value what libraries provide, state Attorney General Nick Brown last week joined 20 other states in suing the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of the IMLS.

If libraries have been meaningful in your life, you can make your voice heard on this issue, too. Visit the American Library Association (st.news/imls) for information on steps you can take to support libraries.

As the Urban Libraries Council’s Shamichael Hallman wrote in his recent — and very timely — book, “Meet Me at the Library”: “Libraries inspire, empower, and transform not only the people who use them but also the communities in which they are situated.”